BBC Travel (with over 3,000,000 fans on Facebook) gives TORONTO a glowing writeup in an article by Lindsey Galloway. “Growing at a clip of more than 100,000 new residents a year, Canada’s largest city keeps getting larger. But the continued population boom hasn’t changed TORONTO’s character,” writes Ms. Galloway.
“A big part of TORONTO’s character comes through its many cultural neighbourhoods, which include Little India (6km east of the city centre), Little Italy (3km west), Portugal Village (3km south-west), Greektown (8km north-east), and Chinatown (2km east), the largest outside San Francisco.
“While residents agree that the city is expensive compared to the rest of Canada, they also say it’s still much more affordable than other big global cities. The 2017 Cost of Living Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked TORONTO at 86 of 133 cities, well behind New York, London and even Mexico City.”
Read the whole story at http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170728-canadas-city-of-140-languages
<3rd Sunday of every month is ‘car-free, pedestrians only’ at Kensington Market – until October>
<A quicksand warning in Wychwood Park>
<Mug shots at the Toronto Police Museum, 40 College Street>
<A tunnel borer working on the 22-station Crosstown LRT and/or six new subway stations>
<Tokyo Smoke jammed between two larger buildings>
<Architectural artifacts in the Junction neighbourhood>
<Glad Day, the world’s oldest LGBTQ bookshop & cafe, 499 Church Street>
<Detail of the Casa Loma Conservatory ceiling on a coin from the Canadian Mint>
<De Grassi Street where the internationally famous television series began.>
<Dundas Street West Market constructed from old shipping containers>
<Nightime illuminations in the Pharmacy Building, University of Toronto>
<Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes, one of the city’s oldest buildings – PHOTO Bryan Blenkin>
<Patio House, Nortown District>
<Lobby, Danforth Music Hall>
<St. Michael’s Cemetery, off Yonge, south of St. Clair Avenue>
<TTC subway typeface, created in the 1950’s>
<Squirrel nests in the fall>
<Former home of Russian Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, 710 Gerrard St. East>
<‘Leaves of Light’, York University>
<Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Forest Hill>
<Artscape Young Place, a former school now devoted to the arts, Shaw Street>
<Rose Hill Park, in the heart of the city, Summerhill neighbourhood>
<Moses Znaimer’s ‘Television Museum and Archive’, Liberty Village>
<Bruce Kidd running track, Regent Park>
<Cinecycle – bicycle repair shop & occasional movie theatre, laneway off Spadina Avenue>
<Matilda Street, downtown eastside>
<The original Island Airport control tower/terminal buildiing still exits – but it’s no longer in use>
<Mural by Dan Bergeron, Evergreen Brick Works>
<Great (Law) Library, Osgoode Hall, Queen Street West>
<Court House Square>
<‘Massacre of the Innocents’ by Rubens, Art Gallery of Ontario>
<Canada’s largest pipe organ – Metropolitan United Church>
<State-of-the-art Kinoton Projection Technology, Bell Lightbox>
<The PATH network’s vast underground city>
<Highway 401 pedestrian overpass>
<Old City Hall interior – it’s now a court house>
<Coach House Press, independent book publishers, bpNichol Lane>
<A tribute to the late Glenn Gould for his love of animals – TORONTO Humane Society>
<A garden in Chinatown West>
These folks were aligned along the edge of a wetland. Birdwatchers all, they were focused on a Tricoloured Heron, highly unusual in these parts. Its normal range is the southeastern part of the United States, and they seldom fly this far north.
<ABOVE – Tricoloured Heron, ANDY JOHNSON, ‘All About Birds’>
The LESLIE STREET SPIT is open to joggers, walkers and bikers every evening from 4:00 to 9pm, and all day on Saturdays, Sundays and Statutory Holidays. It’s closed Monday to Friday from 5:30am to 4:00pm.
The Leslie Street Spit, TORONTO’s ‘artificial-natural’ habitat, extends far out into Lake Ontario at the foot of Leslie Street. It’s getting bigger every day. The Spit was created largely from construction excavations, and is now home to numerous wild animals, birds and butterflies.
In the midst of a housing shortage after World War II, E.P. Taylor <PHOTO ABOVE>, a powerful businessman, bought two thousand acres of farmland.
From 1995 to 1965 Taylor’s companies changed that farmland into one of the world’s most innovative “New Towns”. Within the community – 28,000 residents, over 70 industries, one of Canada’s earliest shopping centres, schools and recreation facilities.
DON MILLS was the first land development of its kind to be planned and funded by the private sector. Neighbourhoods were isolated from heavy traffic by looping roads and culs-de-sac. Light industry was allowed on the edges. Attention was paid to everything from the buildings, their exteriors and colours. Generous green space was provided.
Much of residential DON MILLS remains as it was built. The trees have grown taller, but the houses still have that 1950-60’s Modernist look.
<Gertrude Stein by Picabia, 1933> I wonder if Ms. Stein (1874-1946, novelist, poet, playwright) would say the same thing about the Shops at DON MILLS situated in the suburban vastness of TORONTO’s North York. Developer Cadillac-Fairview replaced a standard shopping mall here with a town centre laid out around a central square with art by Douglas Coupland. Not your typical shopping centre in these parts.
Don Mills town centre is home to 72 top-of-the-line shops, restaurants, pubs, a cinema, chocolate shop, coffee bars – and amazingly FREE parking. The streets are spotlessly clean, but the Parisian funkiness Gertrude Stein loved so much is nowhere in sight.
Year ‘round Aggie Hogg Gardens – named after a former resident, storekeeper, postmaster and the daughter of early settler John Hogg – is the centre of the Centre.
To reach Don Mills by public transit take the #54 Lawrence A or B bus eastbound from Eglinton station to The Donway. It takes about an hour.
JEFF ROCK, a scientist, has been appointed the next senior pastor at TORONTO’s Metropolitan Community Church. He will succeed Rev. Dr. BRENT HAWKES who is retiring after 38 years with MCC. Pastor Rock: “I look at myself as a 33-year-old young gay man in ministry and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without people like Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes. I think that there are deep conversations that need to happen in TORONTO about class, and about housing costs and poverty.”
The CN Tower, TORONTO’s #1 tourist attraction, now has a new mascot. It’s a miniature version of the tower itself – only with arms.
Over the past two years TORONTO-based Cyberworks Robotics & the University of Toronto have developed a cost-efficient technology that will allow power wheelchairs to drive themselves. The concept was originally intended for users with upper-body-disabilities such as hand tremors, ALS, and spinal cord injuries. These new wheelchairs could dramatically enhance quality of life, and make it much easier to accomplish everyday things. Cyberworks is currently in the process of getting necessary approvals to allow wheelchair users to test the technology, and eventually making it useable outdoors.
A 6-foot TORONTO sign, made from washed-up driftwood has appeared on the water in Humber Bay Park, the work of artists Thelia Sanders-Shelton and Julie Ryan. Making the sign was a challenge. The duo spent five days on their project, up to seven hours at a time, collecting driftwood and lugging rocks. Julie Ryan said they put a heart at the end of the sculpture to celebrate TORONTO as “a city of love. It’s a place of goodness and kindness.”
From the CTV News collection in the City of TORONTO Archives – the Evergreen Sikorsky Skycrane puts on the last piece of the 39-section broadcast antenna atop the incomplete CN Tower – April 2/1975. The helicopter’s official model number was N6962R – known locally as ‘Olga’.
Toronto Savvy 